The Great Wall of China 13 May 2015

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The Great Wall of China and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Park



Our fantastic experiences and ticking yet another thing off our ‘Bucket List’ continued today. We were off to see the Great Wall of China, and the 2008 Olympic Games sites.



First, we visited the Olympic Games site. The National Stadium or affectionately "Bird's Nest", in Chaoyang District is a major landmark and a lasting symbol of the 2008 Olympic Games. Two contemporary buildings in the District are remarkable landmarks: the CCTV Building (sometimes called "The Underpants" or "Bird Legs" by locals) and the World Trade Centre Tower III. Both are outstanding examples of contemporary architecture. It is a huge area and we only saw a small portion of the whole complex in the hour that was allocated to the visit.

From there we drove to Beijing’s largest Jade Factory and learned about the mining and manufacturing of jade and how to pick out imitation jade. This is China’s most precious and celebrated stone, and the samples of jade, skilfully moulded into amazing shapes and jewellery, was interesting.



The next stage of our holiday was one we were looking forward to...The Great Wall of China.



Oh my gosh....arriving at the start of the walk up The Wall was like finally being at the base of Ayres Rock for the 1^st time. You see so many photos of the special sights, but it is not until you actually get there and see it up close that you really understand how massive the Wall is.



As soon as the bus stopped, we had 2 hours to get to one of the highest points of the Wall. The steps were made up of different heights (1, 2 or 3 bricks high). There was a hand rail to help you walk up the steps, particularly the 3-brick high steps. There was no quality control back then!!!

Our guide said that crowds can be a definite issue with the Great Wall: at popular sections at popular times, it becomes not the Great Wall of China, but rather the Great Wall of Tourists. The section we climbed was very good, with not as many people. It took the entire 2 hours to climb up and back, making sure we stopped many, many times to take in the spectacular scenery around us. We could see the Wall creep its way over the rolling and steep mountains, as far as the eye could see. Stunning! At the highest pagoda, we stayed for awhile, taking photos and celebrating our achievement. Tom & I were elated. I wasn’t sure if Tom was going to get to the top but after a bit of a rest, he kept going and made it. Xx

On our return, we found an icy cold beer which was wonderful. (NB cold beers are a little hard to find in China!!) We hopped back on the bus and as soon as we got back to the hotel, we dived into a much-needed shower. That night we had a Chinese meal with the lazy-susan style serving method.

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China to protect the Chinese states and empires against the raids and invasions of the various nomadic groups from the Ukraine to Siberia and Hungary. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century bc; these, later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built 220–206 bc by Qin Shihuang, the first Emperor of China. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall is from the Ming Dynasty.

Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signalling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor.

The main Great Wall line stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Lake in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the Ming walls measure 8,850 km. Another archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196 km.



Thursday 14 May

After another lovely breakfast, we drove to the Temple of Heaven which is surrounded by a 272ha. We practice Tai Chi under the guidance of a Tai Chi Master in the Temple gardens. The Temple of Heaven in the Chongwen District is the symbol of Beijing and in the surrounding park was packed with hordes of local people drinking tea, practicing calligraphy or tai-chi or just watching the world go by.Tai Chi is an internal martial art system which places emphasis on the development and control of Chi (consciousness) energy within the body.



We then wandered around the garden watching people doing ballroom dancing, playing badminton, kicking weighted-feathers around to each other and many other activities.



We then did the Hutong Tour where we explored the Hutong neighbourhood, one of Beijing’s rapidly disappearing traditional districts, on a rickshaw. Until recently, the city was almost entirely made up of hutongs with narrow lanes and single story buildings. Now, many of the hutongs have given way to broad boulevards and modern buildings, contributing to an airy, sprawling feel, in sharp contrast to cities like Hong Kong and Shanghai.



While there, we visited a local Hutong family for lunch then visited an 83 yo man who is known as the Cricket Fighting Man....yes he has little fighting crickets (which only live for 10 days). He showed us how he looks after them and how he encourages them to fight (by tickling them on the face with a brush!!). He was so excited about telling us about all the things he has done and how many important western interviewers who have published stories about him. He talked and smiled with is bright face and some missing teeth.



We enjoyed our rickshaw ride through the little lanes and back streets. We saw Beijing's ancient alleyways, and the traditional Beijing architecture. They date back to when Beijing was the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (1266-1368). Most buildings in hutongs are made in the traditional courtyard style. Many of these courtyard homes were originally occupied by aristocrats, though after the Communist takeover in 1949 the aristocrats were pushed out and replaced with poor families. The place we had lunch was in one of these buildings.



Later, we went shopping at the Beijing Flea Market (Knock-Off Market) where there were genuine and non-genuine branded items for sale. The trick was to know which was which. Our guide helped us with this. I had a lot of fun bartering, knowing that most things were inflated by 1000%. It was good fun. Some people make the mistake of taking it too seriously.



We then drove to the Shopping-Street-to-be-Seen-in which was like being in Australia. It was a mall with the big Apple store on the corner. We wandered there for awhile. Around a corner was a ‘snack-market’ where there was a row of street stalls selling 100s of different selections of food. These included toffee fruit, crumbed bananas, satays and many others. The stalls that attracted the most foreign visitors was where they were selling roasted spiders, scorpions, mini snakes, grasshoppers, you name it, they roasted it!!! Fascinating. We didn’t try any, by the way!!



What a packed day this was. Again we went back to the hotel very satisfied.

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Photos

The Great wall of China
In excellent condition. Steps are very uneven.